We said: Lebanon 1-1 Palestine
The last three meetings between these two allied nations have ended as draws, and we would not be surprised to see them share the spoils once again on Thursday.
Although there is plenty at stake given that both countries will likely be targeting second place behind Australia in Group I, the game may have a slightly hollow feeling given current affairs off the pitch in the Middle East, meaning that both sets of players may be content to avoid defeat.
Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Lebanon win with a probability of 52.68%. A draw had a probability of 26.3% and a win for Palestine had a probability of 21.03%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lebanon win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.57%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.86%) and 2-1 (9.06%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.16%), while for a Palestine win it was 0-1 (8.16%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.